by D. N. Leo
The ground shook a bit harder.
“Handle, my ass,” Caedmon muttered. “Are you ready, Lyla?”
“Always.” She turned on the game-betting function in her wrist unit.
“You’re not serious!” Caedmon said but did the same with his own unit. “Bastard! He couldn’t help but bet in a world he created.”
“He’s dreamed about this his whole life, Caedmon. Without our credentials, he wouldn’t even be eligible to place a bet at this caliber. We’ve got to help him. So are we going all in?”
“We don’t have a choice, do we? What have you got?”
Lyla showed Caedmon her game plans.
He nodded. “That will work.”
The ground shook even harder. Gale had pulled his power sword and was waiting for whatever was coming at him from the bottom of a canyon on the other side of the rock hills.
Lyla admired Gale. He was a free spirit. He loved life, loved technology, and loved exploring new worlds. Unlike Caedmon and herself, buried in responsibilities from the great universe their parents governed, Gale didn’t care about the politics of the multiverse. And sometimes, his carelessness had severe consequences.
From the horizon, from the deep canyon between the rock hills, the head of a creature emerged.
Lyla arched an eyebrow. “Only one?”
“Don’t underestimate it, Lyla,” said Caedmon. “It will have a decent size. We’ll go all in.” He entered his game bets via the portal in his wrist unit. Lyla did the same.
The head of the creature had risen over and above the top of the hill, and Lyla could see that Caedmon was right—it had taken the form of an earthly creature that she knew from her research to be a dragon. It flapped its wings and flew to the top of the hill in front of Gale.
Gale swung his sword, drawing a line of explosive fire on the ground in front of the dragon. It staggered backward.
Lyla smiled because she knew Gale’s game plan. No matter how big it was, that dragon wouldn’t stand a chance.
The dragon regained its ground. It roared and spat out an enormous stream of fire at Gale.
Gale swung his sword again. A wall of fire surged up from the ground, blocking the dragon’s fire. The fire exploded and then died down.
The dragon roared again.
Lyla didn’t need to see Gale’s face to know he was smirking at the losing creature.
Gale and the dragon charged at each other, fighting a few more rounds. Gale was winning. The dragon flapped its wings again, but it couldn’t fly away, and no more fire came from its mouth.
“It won’t lose so easily,” Caedmon muttered.
“Look out!” Lyla shouted as the dragon suddenly spread its wings. On their edges, small compartments slid open to reveal round holes from which flocks of iron bats flew out. Lyla knew of them—only the highest caliber of Xiilok mercenaries had access to these toxic flying weapons.
Gale triggered more walls of fire, but the bats flew right through them.
“No!” Lyla charged forward. She raised both of her arms and conjured an instant force of air—her game plan. The gust of wind stormed at the bats, blowing them back toward the dragon. Some of them hit the dragon’s body, and there was the clanking sound of metal hitting metal. The majority were dead on impact. Gale fired at those remaining.
The dragon withdrew several feet and bellowed a haunting sound of defeat.
Caedmon charged forward, releasing his ultimate weapon, and a giant blade flew toward the dragon, decapitating it.
“It won’t die that easily,” Lyla said under her breath to Gale.
“No,” he agreed. But before he could move to do anything, the body of the dragon split in half, and a creature, human in form with a lizard head, scaly skin, and webbed wings on its shoulders, stepped out. From the shoulders of the creature, several iron tentacles reached out around the wings.
Lyla was sure these tentacles were deadly weapons, but she wasn’t sure how to deal with them. The tentacles grew, reached out further, and then came toward her.
Gale charged in front of her. The tentacles jabbed him, hooking themselves to his body. She knew they were going to tear him apart. She brought her arms up and again conjured the air force, using it to hold Gale’s body together.
The creature looked at her with beady eyes.
Caedmon sent several iron blades toward the creature, but every blow bounced back and sent him backward several feet.
The creature seemed to be invincible.
In front of her devastated eyes, the creature fired its weapon through the tentacles. Gale’s body jerked up into the air. She still held his body intact, but she knew everything inside him had exploded.
He collapsed as the creature withdrew its tentacles. It then looked at her.
Caedmon charged at the creature several times with every weapon and game plan he could come up with. Every time, his blows ricocheted back at him. If her brother continued this, he would die. She had to do something.
Caedmon was knocked unconscious, and the creature turned to look at her. She thought she could see it smirking in triumph. It approached her, and a smile spread across its face.
She knew there was nothing she could do to kill it.
As it moved closer, she saw a white shadow dashing back and forth between her and the creature. The movement of the shadow was very fast, and she couldn’t tell what it was. Another white shadow flew past, and then a white light exploded in front of the creature.
The creature was stunned. Taking the opportunity, she grabbed Gale’s sword and stabbed the creature in the heart—assuming it had one.
She was wrong.
It looked down at the sword, which hadn’t seemed to do much damage. Then it looked at her.
She was sure the next thing it would do was wrap those strong jaws around her neck and tear her head off. But it didn’t. It stared at her for a brief second, and then it let out a haunting sound and raced away, vanishing into another dimension.
Chapter 7
Southern Vietnam—tropical forest—present time
“Bullshit,” Michael muttered.
“Michael, whatever your father wants us to do, I’m sure he has your best interests at heart.” Lyla raised her voice, or at least Michael thought she did.
He chuckled. “That wasn’t what I was talking about, Lyla. I was referring to the excrement discharged from an animal’s digestive system.” He pointed at a rather large brown pile, covered with vines and weeds, at the base of a large tree trunk.
“All right. Why do you need to point that out? Earth animals produce waste after the digestion of food.”
“Well, the man claimed he—”
“That man is Cole, and he’s your father.”
“When I met you for the first time in Eudaiz, you checked my credentials. If I didn’t have that time travel pass, you would have put a beam in my head. Has Cole shown you anything that verifies who he is?”
She shook her head. “There’s no need. I could tell he spoke the truth.”
He looked into her magnificent grey eyes, full of intriguing mystery, the strongest physical resemblance between Lyla and her father, Ciaran Leblanc, the man to whom Michael owed his life. Now he’d discovered a new similarity in their personalities – their stubbornness. He knew the two of them would give that quality a nicer label, like determination. But to Michael, it was sheer stubbornness.
“The only thing I know about my father is that he left my mom to have me on her own, and then she ended up in a relationship with the scumbag I was forced to call my stepfather. We talked about this, Lyla, remember? Ciaran had to kill to save me, and then he copped the recursive spell and all the shit that came with it. I’m comfortable making deals with Cole to get you home. But if he tries to go anywhere near that father territory with me, it isn’t going to go down well.”
She looked up at him and blinked her grey eyes. But he wasn’t going to give in. He’d accept almost anything and make almost any deal for her. But not
this.
“Point taken. I won’t refer to Cole as your father if that makes you uncomfortable.” Lyla smiled.
Damn, Michael thought. He’d been geared up for a verbal wrestling match. She always knew how and when to wheel and deal. But more importantly, she knew when not to engage in an unfruitful fight. Michael wanted to get out of this exchange with Cole altogether. He couldn’t bring himself to trust him.
“Are you sure about this, Lyla?”
“About what?”
“Cole claims he has connections with the magical world. If he can control the witches and all, then he can surely retrieve a jar of ash by himself. If he can’t even come to this part of the woods —woods that are so ordinary that animals shit all over—then what does that say about the jar he wants to get?”
“He has explained all this, Michael. This part of the land is too deep into the material world. He wouldn’t be able to operate here. Plus, this might not be the right place. I mean, not yet. We need to keep going.” She looked up at the blue bird Cole had sent as a guide.
Michael looked in the same direction. The beautiful creature perched on a high tree branch, making cooing noises as if teasing him. Yes, the bird was beautiful, but there was nothing magical about it. “The bird looks as if it doesn’t want to go any farther.”
As if responding to Michael’s statement, the blue bird flapped its wings and took off.
“Hey!” Michael shouted and rushed in the direction it had flown. Lyla followed right behind him. The tree branches were thick, and Michael lost sight of the bird quickly. Soon there was neither a sign of nor a sound from the bird. The forest had suddenly become eerily quiet.
Indeed, there was no sound of any animals at all. The air was completely still. The trees stood unmoving as if in a painting.
Michael pushed Lyla behind him. “It’s a trap,” he said through his teeth.
“It’s a gateway, I think,” Lyla said.
A shallow crack ran across the ground in front of them. Other than the parting of the dry leaves on the ground, nothing else happened. Then the image of the forest on the other side of the crack flickered and dimmed. It was as if this side of the forest and the other were separated by an invisible wall of steam.
Lyla tugged at Michael’s elbow. “It’s a dimensional gateway. I’m sure of it. I just don’t know where it will lead us.”
“We’re not going through that gateway. Let’s get out of here. If Cole is desperate for his jar, he’ll find us. If he won’t help you get home unless he has the jar, we’ll figure something else out.” Michael moved backward, pulling Lyla away from the gateway.
A distant female voice echoed through the air. It made them both nearly jump out of their skin.
“That’s right, Michael,” it said. “Get away from that gateway. I will show you a better way to get what you want. Come here, son.”
“Suddenly, every stranger I run into claims to be my parent! I might not know my father, but I am damn sure who my mother is.”
“I’m not claiming to be your mother. I am calling you Son of Fire.”
Michael chuckled. “Well, it has a nice ring to it. But I’m happy just to be Michael.”
“If you have good intentions, then show yourself to us,” Lyla said.
“I can’t. I don’t currently have a form.”
Michael smiled. “Very convenient. I’m sure you have a name.”
“What’s the point, Michael? You can’t see me anyway. What’s more important here is that I can offer you what Cole did, but at a more reasonable price.”
“It wasn’t a price. It was a fair exchange between Cole and me. You don’t know what our agreement was,” Lyla said.
The voice chuckled. “Oh, I know Cole better than he thinks I do. Did he ask you to retrieve a jar of ash so he could use it to liberate the witches, and did he tell you that he will claim your attempt as redemption for your exile?”
Lyla smiled. “That’s a good guess. It’s close, but not quite correct. And I trust Cole.”
“You’re a naive young woman. But I understand. I, too, was young and innocent once. So let me offer you this. If you get me a pass to the Cross-world Zone, I’ll give you the jar. Then you can use that to continue the deal with Cole without having to go through the gateway to retrieve it.”
Lyla nodded. “Who do I make that pass to?”
“Are you sure you can do this?” the woman asked.
“I’m in charge of a large station in Eudaiz. This shouldn’t be a big deal.”
“I’ll give you my name when you prove you can produce the pass for me.”
Michael laughed. “You could be a bit more subtle when you try to scam us.” He discreetly sent some gentle heatwaves in the direction of the voice—and was very pleased with himself when he was able to do that. Conjuring heat that burned whatever it hit from the inside out was his newfound ability. The only issue was that to do so, he had to use his internal energy, which was limited.
The woman’s voice chuckled. “Nice try, Michael. I told you, I don’t have a form. You can’t burn me. Now, since you don’t seem willing to work for me, I will have to take you both.”
A sudden gust of wind formed a funnel. The tip of the funnel pointed toward Michael and Lyla. The force was strong and threatened to suck them in. Their feet dragged on the ground as they tried to resist the force of the pull.
Michael grabbed Lyla. She was much lighter and smaller than he was, but if she were swept off her feet by the powerful suction of the funnel, hanging on to her would cause them both to be swallowed up.
In a split second, Lyla’s feet were lifted from the ground. Michael pulled her back down. Using the downward momentum, Lyla grabbed Michael by his arm as her feet touched the ground and swung him toward the invisible gateway. She hung on tightly, and both of them fell onto the other side.
Then the world went white.
Chapter 8
The small dot of fire flickered a few times before it lit the candle in the corner of the dark cave. The dancing fire made Jaxper smile.
She had no talent when it came to starting a fire. Thus, the success of this little trick pleased her more than she expected. Not that she didn’t have talent at all. She was the best of her mountain witch clan at potion creation. And before she met Michael and Lyla, her protective spell was first-class. She could build magic walls to protect herself from almost all paranormal creatures. But the lesson she had learned when she tried to protect herself and Michael from hybrid paranormal creatures was that her walls didn’t last very long.
Michael and Lyla came from a world previously unknown to her—the multiverse. Lyla had explained it to her—witches and Jaxper’s magic belonged to the magical world, and the multiverse belonged to the material world. And then there was an elusive amalgam world—the hybrid world in between.
These worlds didn’t—and shouldn’t—cross.
But as always, creatures yearned to go against the natural order of all things—if there really was something that could be defined as natural. They wanted to cross, to migrate, and they did all sorts of things to violate the rules. Those from Xiilok, a universe within the amalgam world, were notorious for that. And they were the ones who had attacked and broken through her protective walls.
She looked toward a stone bench in the far corner.
In the dim and flickering light, the shape of Gale lying motionless tugged at her heart. How could such a beautiful, passionate individual be a robot—a machine? Did that mean everything he had told her was programmed? She didn’t get it. Lyla said that only ten percent of Gale’s human quality had survived. Jaxper imagined he would have been an incredible friend to Lyla when he was one hundred percent.
Thinking of Michael and Lyla, she wondered why it was taking them so long just to go to the other side of the mountain and retrieve something for her god. She wouldn’t know what to do if Gale woke now.
Hearing a faint sound behind her, she turned and grinned. The smile on her face vanished
as she dropped to the cold stone ground of the dark cave. “My god!”
Cole entered the cave. She got a glimpse of his face but then quickly looked down to the ground. His aura weakened her legs so much she wasn’t sure she could hold her body straight even in a kneeling position. She had never seen him this close.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me, Jaxper.”
“I’m not afraid, my god. My mother said to be afraid only if I have done something wrong. Which I haven’t. And I would never do anything wrong by you.”
He chuckled. “I’m not exactly your god, or the god of the witches as they call me.”
“You created us. You are protecting us. And now that the One is with us, I would hope the mountain witch clan has your blessing and that you will liberate our souls when the time comes.” She didn’t look up, but for some reason, she knew he was smiling down at her.
“Michael isn’t the One.”
She looked up and caught sight of his gentle eyes, the eyes of a kind father, a luxury she would never have. “But he’s your son. He has the power of the One.”
Cole shook his head. “Michael has some of the power we need. But he’s not the One. And yes, he’s my son—if he will ever accept that.”
“Is that why you didn’t show yourself to him? You think he won’t believe you?”
“It’s complicated, Jaxper.”
She nodded. “You think I won’t understand.”
Cole approached and helped her stand. He looked into her eyes. “You have so much of your mother in you. I didn’t have control over the way you were made. But if I were able to liberate only one witch clan, yours would be the one I chose, with or without Michael being here.”
“Why, may I ask?”
“Don’t you want to be freed?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then don’t ask too many questions. I am here to terminate a potential problem, and that, in turn, might prevent your witch clan from being terminated.”